In the NBA, there is such a legendary superstar, he only played four seasons, before entering the Hall of Fame.
We all know that the Hall of Fame is not just the NBA's Hall of Fame, but the Basketball Hall of Fame! Everyone involved in basketball, including players, coaches, managers, bosses, and basketball staff, can be selected as long as you can make great and effective achievements or performances in the promotion and development of the entire basketball.
But this does not mean that the Hall of Fame is easy to enter, on the contrary, the threshold of the Hall of Fame is very high, and many NBA superstars may not be able to enter the Hall of Fame in their lifetime, because it has a condition that is very important - "outstanding contributions to basketball"! That's not something you can say with a few championships, leading scorers, and MVPs. Hall of Fame qualification is even more valuable than the jersey number retirement or the 50 biggest stars and other honors.
The odd man who entered the Hall of Fame for four seasons at my firm is called Drazen Petrović, a Croatian, nicknamed "Mozart on the Basketball Court." When he was young, he relied on superb shooting skills and all-round skills to play all over Europe, and once scored 112 points in a single game, and was a well-deserved genius player. He became famous as a teenager and was extremely sharp in offense, but he was not a white breakthrough hand like Ginobili who was physically strong, but the most elegant tall shooter, and had a strong ability to hold the ball singles, he would not force the basket, but he could use skillful dribbling and changeable rhythm to create shooting space for himself, and then calmly shot, the soft feel ensured the terrible shooting rate, he had four seasons in the NBA, the shooting rate was as high as 60%, the three-point shooting rate was 40%, and now it seems, He's a more versatile and stable Klay Thompson. And his elegant waltz style has made him known as "Mozart on the basketball court." ”
In 1986, Petrovich was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the third round of the NBA Draft, but the Cold War-era Soviet Union became an insurmountable obstacle to Petrovich's trip to the NBA. In 1988 and 1992, Petrović won the silver medal in the Olympic men's basketball team for the former Yugoslavia and Croatia, which became independent after the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, respectively; in 1989, Petrović won the European Men's Basketball Championship for Yugoslavia, and in 1990 he won the World Championship for Yugoslavia. In February 1989, he led Real Madrid to the final of the European Champions League, where Petrović's outstanding skills made the discerning NBA scouts salivate, but he never made it to the NBA due to the Cold War.
In 1992, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Petrović led Croatia to the Barcelona Olympic Games, where the "Dream Team" fought like a day in the Olympic Games, and Jordan scored 24 points, two more points than Jordan. In the end, Croatia lost due to the overall strength of the team against The Dream One, and their main force even led the Dream One team 26:25 when they were fighting against the Dream One team! At that time, almost all the participating teams in the Olympic Games were star-studded Dream Team fans, the Dream Team had Jordan, Magic, Bird, Ewing, Barkley, "Glider" Drexler, it was simply an all-star tour of the NBA, and most of the athletes from other countries did not come to the game at all, but to chase the stars, they were eager to end the game early, and then went to Jordan and Johnson for autographs.
But the proud Petrovic did not think so, in his mind, he is a basketball genius, there is no need to bow to the Dream Team, he is almost like a bullfighter with red eyes and the Dream Team, scoring on Jordan's head, scrappy, indomitable, although he finally lost the game, but also let Jordan and the Dream Team look at him with admiration. After he lost, he was still not convinced, and released a "wild word" - the dream team is nothing remarkable, in 30 years, the world basketball will definitely beat the dream team, as a result, his prediction was really realized later, the 2002 World Championships, the 2004 Olympic Games, the dream team lost.
In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, he joined the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, but was not reused. After playing 38 games in Portland in the 1990-1991 season, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets. After arriving with the Nets, he quickly integrated into the team, playing in 41 games for basketball that season, averaging 12.6 points per game in a limited 20-minute playing time.
In the 1991-92 season, Petrovic ushered in an outbreak, averaging 36.9 minutes per game, averaging 20.6 points per game, and what is more valuable is that as a guard, he shot 51% from the field, leading the Nets into the playoffs, which also allowed him to win the respect of the Americans. In the 1992–93 season, Petrovic went a step further, averaging 22.3 points per game, ranking eleventh in the league. Three-point shooting percentage reached 45 percent for two consecutive seasons and 52 percent from the field. At the end of the season, Petrovich was named to the league's third team. Due to the environment at that time, he could not be selected for that year's All-Star Game, and all basketball fans lost the only opportunity to watch his All-Star performance.
On 7 June 1993, when Croatia swept Poland by 30 points in the first match of the European Championship, Dratzen Petrović was killed in a car accident while visiting his girlfriend in Munich. His No. 3 jersey was retired by the Nets as a memorial.
In 2002, the "Mozart on the basketball court" was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame along with "Magic" Johnson.
Jordan said of him: "Every time I fight against Peter Lovich, I feel like I am playing against my opponent, and my whole body trembles with excitement! ”